Companies may have all ingredients of a mega block buster- clear strategic direction with a great vision, a great product line, competitive prices, the best of positioning and yet it’s growth goals are being constrained by a lack of revenue. Revenue is directly related to sales. .

It’s imperative to find out the source of that problem. Is the sales process flawed? Is there a gap between decisions and execution by the sales team?

The next step is identifying inefficiencies and gaps in the sales process and then training the sales team to overcome these inefficiencies as per their training needs.

Training is the process of increasing knowledge, skills and other traits of an individual for performing a particular job. It’s purpose is to improve the behavior and performance of the trainees. 

CONCEPT OF SALES TRAINING

Sales Training can help aspiring sales persons to develop and practice the skills they need to succeed and increase their confidence level.

Businesses have realized the importance of sales training and it’s global market has significantly increased over the years.

The learning objectives of effective sales training programs are generally to improve the relationship between sales professionals and their prospects/customers, and to also improve the sales performance and close rates of sales professionals.

TARGET AUDIENCE (WHO?)

Students of sales training programs are primarily those who work as sales professionals, sales managers, channel sales professionals, product sales professionals, and sales force automation professionals.

THE HOW OF SALES TRAINING

Sales training programs often include topics related to customer relationship management, better understanding customer needs, enhancing communication with customers and improving customer interactions.

• SALES METHODOLOGY TRAINING includes basic communication skills and techniques for sales professionals. the most commonly taught sales methodologies are Spin Selling and Solution Selling. 
• SALES MANAGEMENT TRAINING involves skills for how to manage a sales force..
• PRODUCT SALES TRAINING involves knowledge of the products/services the sales professional is selling. A common approach to product sales training is teaching how to communicate the features, advantages and benefits (FAB) of the product to the customer.
• SALES FORCE AUTOMATION involves teaching the sales professionals how to use online tools to track and report the progress of sales activities.

IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL SALES TRAINING:

PROPER AND A PROFESSIONAL SALES TRAINING IS IMPORTANT FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS:

• IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• LEARNING SALES METHODOLOGY
• OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
• DEVELOPING ADMINISTRATIVE SKILLS
• PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
• CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS

OBJECTIVES OF SALES TRAINING:

• SALES GROWTH & INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY (SALES PRODUCTIVITY, INCREASED SALES & PROFITS OR BOTH)
• SALES FORCE TURNOVER (TO CREATE POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND TO INCREASE SALES FORCE MORALE)
• REPEAT CUSTOMERS (TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER RELATIONS)
• UP SELL STRATEGIES
• SALES EFFECTIVENESS
• TO INTRODUCE NEW PRODUCTS, MARKET AND PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMS.

THE BEST SALES PEOPLE HAVE The DRIVE TO LEARN AND BE THE BEST.

GOOD SALES TRAINING WILL HELP THEM GET THERE.

INVEST IN IT EARLY ON AND YOU’LL HAVE A TEAM THAT CAN’T BE BEAT.

To understand the strengths of your products better, you must understand your competition and your positioning. What are your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses will give you a better understanding of your positioning in the market?

Why do people buy your products or services instead of others offered in the same category? What benefits do you offer at what prices, to whom, and how does your mix compare to others? Competitive analysis has become an essential part of business marketing activity and strategic planning.

What does a successful salesperson look for about competition?

• Product and services and how do they sell them.
• Product Pricing.
• Discounting structure.
• Distribution and delivery.
• Customer schemes.
• Innovation in products and business strategies.
• The number of employees and their expertise.
• Usage of new technologies.
• Hierarchy of employees.
• Annual performance.
• Marketing activities.

It is of utmost importance to gather information not only about your competitors but also of their customers.

• Who are your competitor’s customers?
• What products do the customers purchase in the market?
• The strengths and weaknesses the customer sees in your competitor.
• Who are your competitor’s target customers and markets?

How does a successful salesperson use this information?

The information gathered on the competition needs to be evaluated first. This evaluation will reveal if there is any gap your competition has overlooked. This gap needs to be exploited.

Finding information on competitors

You can find a lot of information and market data on the Internet. Company Website provides a lot of useful information. Industry associations, industry publications, media coverage, information from financial communities, and their own marketing materials may also be a good resource to identify the performance and position of each competitor.

Make a list of information that you have gathered for all your competitors. List down the strengths and weaknesses of each of them against yours. Categorize this information. Find out what you can learn from your competitors. Can you do something better than what they are doing? Learn about their best practices which could be adopted and also their negatives that could be left alone.

This is one reason why athletes and coaches watch hours and hours of videos about their competitors or opponents. They do this in order to find out their weaknesses and strengths and how they could be exploited. This is exactly what you have to do as a salesperson.

Competition is good. It makes us better. It keeps us on our toes. Competition creates better products. Competition keeps you active and dynamic and competitors push you to achieve more.

My last blogs emphasized that in the changing dynamics of sales, a salesperson to be successful is required to continuously develop his skill sets. To master the “Art of Selling”, you should know all the essentials of selling. We have already elaborated on Knowing Yourself, knowing your Company and the Product.

“Knowing your Market” is a key essential of selling. Your market includes your customers, your suppliers, and your competitors. These are pivotal characters that define the success of your business. To know your customer’s likes and dislikes, their spending power, what they enjoy and what they need, will give you a clear picture of what your customer wants from you. This will enable you to translate your product into something that will sell to your target market.

Usually, a market analysis includes a view of the industry you are in. You must be aware of the industry trends, industry growth, recent developments and common keys to success. You should be doing a good web search for available information that might come from market studies, trade associations, industry experts, blogs, major competitors and local competitors and of course, the actual ground-work survey.

Knowing your market includes:

• “Total Addressable Market” or “Total Available Market” (TAM): It is the entire potential market available. It’s large and usually a useless number.

• “Serviceable Available Market” (SAM): It is a more useful number that can be reached and serviced.

• “Share of Market” (SOM): You must target a definite percent of market share you intend to capture of the total serviceable available market.

In today’s scenario, having a well-defined target market is a ‘MUST’. You cannot service the entire available market. Target marketing allows you to focus on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than the other markets. Here is how you may define your target market-

• Look at your current customer base: Who are your current customers and why do they buy from you. These factors could be used to influence new customers as well.

• Check out your competition: Who are your customers targeting? Who are their current customers? You may not necessarily target the same set of customers but can find out who are they overlooking.

• Analyze your Product/Service: List down a FAB (Feature, Advantage, Benefit) Chart of your product/service. Once you have your benefits listed, make a list of people who have a need that your benefit fulfills.

You should also be in a position to do a proper ‘Market Segmentation’ and relate your product/service to different market segments. Market segmentation can be done by:

1. Dividing a population by age and gender (selling clothing, shoes, etc.).
2. Dividing a population by married or single (selling real estate, insurance, etc.).
3. Dividing a population by income also sometimes called ‘Economic Segmentation’ (restaurants, niche products, luxury goods, travel agencies, etc.).
4. Geographical Segmentation where a market is cut into various zones, regions, cities or neighborhoods (selling personal care, clothing, etc.).
5. Market segmentation can also be done by dividing customers by their:

Personality

Attitudes

Values

Interests/hobbies

Lifestyles

Behaviour

Determine how your product or service will fit into your target’s lifestyle. How and when will your target use the product? What features are most appealing to your target?

Evaluate your decision.

Once you’ve closed in on a target market, be sure that these questions are addressed first:

• Are there enough people who fit my criteria and builds up my pipeline?

• Will my target really benefit from my product/service?

• Will the customer see the need for my product?

• Do I understand what drives my customers to make the buying decision?

• Is my product/service affordable?

• Can I reach out to all my target customers?

Remember, your market context is not static. It keeps on changing and is very dynamic in nature. Continuous understanding of your market requires continuous scanning of the market. So, you are required to update your understanding of the market on a regular basis. When you begin to unfold everything that matters in your market, you will begin to see past your competition and will give you a greater understanding of the opportunities that exist.

One of the key essential of Selling is “Knowing your Product”. The best way to do this is to ask yourself a few questions that will give you a kick start to the process-

1. What is your product?
2. What does it do?
3. What solution/benefit does it provide to the customer?
4. Why is there a need for this product?
5. Why is your product superior to those similar to it?
6. What benefits does your product offer that other companies with a similar product do not?
7. Who is your target buyer?
8. What problems are you solving for people with this product?

Understanding your product’s features allows you to present their benefits accurately, persuasively, confidently and with conviction. Customers respond to enthusiastic sales people who are passionate about their products and eager to share the benefits with them.

Use all relevant sources of information to learn about your products and services including:

• Your own experiences using the products
• Product literature such as catalogs and brochures
• Online forums
• Feedback from customers
• Trade and industry publications
• Internal sales records
• Your own Team Members
• Visit to manufacturers
• Sales Training Programmes
• Competitor information
• Testimonials
• Role Playing

It is important to “Communicate” with the customer instead of just “Talking”. Communicating is selling Benefits and not the Features. The success of a sales call depends upon your ability to communicate effectively how the benefits of your product or service will satisfy your customers.

Product Benefits are the links between your Product’s Features and your Customer’s Needs. You satisfy your customer’s needs by translating features of your product into specific benefits. To practice this skill, prepare a FAB Chart for your products.

FEATURE: A characteristic of a product or service (Anything that describes it).

ADVANTAGE: A general usefulness of a product or service to all people derived from this feature. It should answer to the question- “So what” about the feature.

BENEFIT: A special usefulness of a product or service. The way in which the advantage satisfies an individual’s specific need. It should answer to the question-“How do I (the customer) benefit from this advantage”?

Customers look for product knowledge. It helps them in their buying decisions. It’s how they trust you as a Sales Person. But remember, using product knowledge is a skill. Do not overuse it. Only talk about the benefit that satisfies customer’s need. The customer needs to feel that you have their best interest at heart and not putting on a show of your great intellect. 

In my last blog, we had discussed and elaborated on the first essential of selling- “knowing yourself”.

Let us now discuss the second essential of selling:

“Knowing Your Company”.

Successful Salespeople know all about their company. They are aware of their company’s capabilities. They have an understanding of their company’s products, their service offerings, features, advantages, and benefits of their products. This knowledge is essential to present ideas and solutions to customers.

They should have a clear understanding of their company’s “Goal” and “Vision”. Customers do not want to associate with your company just because what your company does. They want to be a part of why your company does it. They want to do business with people who believe what they believe.

This cannot be effectively communicated unless you know your company and its authenticity. Better knowledge of your company will give you confidence and conviction, will make your communication richer, of higher quality and more effective. Once you are able to do that, you’ll attract loyal, belief-driven customers that can build an organization’s future.

Successful Salespeople spend time knowing about their company, their business, and the competitive landscape. If they do not have an understanding of their company’s business, how and where is their company placed against competition in the market, they will always struggle to make sales. They will surely land up in one of the following situations:

1. Identifying and  Approaching a wrong prospect,
2. Approaching prospects that their business can’t legitimately serve or
3. They fail to answer their prospect’s queries that allow the prospect to overlook them and go to the competition.

Let us now ask ourselves some questions, intellectual and factual, as to how well do we know our company.

FACTUAL

1. Product lines of your company (if the company has more than one product line and you are not a part of others, still you should know about them)
2. Organization hierarchy and Organization Chart
3. Company Financials (Turnover, Net Revenue, Net Profit, Share Price, etc.)
4. Number of employees
5. History
6. Production Facilities
7. Daily Output
8. Awards & Accolades
9. Certifications & Affiliations

INTELLECTUAL

1. Are you aware of your company’s business beyond the features and benefits of your products?
2. Do you understand your company’s strategies and how it plans to place itself against the competition?
3. What are your company’s

• Goal?
• Values? And
• Mission?     

Once the Sales Person has complete details about the company’s history,goodwill and reputation,achievements, objectives and company policies, he qualifies himself to move forward to learn about the 2nd part of the second essential “Knowing your Product”. We would elaborate on this aspect in my next blog, next Tuesday….

Till then Keep Learning….Keep Practicing…

PS: Do let me know what new you learned about your company. Also, share it with all your team members, it will help them all.